In a tragic hit-and-run case, last Saturday evening, a car driver struck and killed Violet Harris, 15, as she rode a Lime rental e-scooter in South Shore.
According to the initial Chicago Police Department statement, on Saturday, March 21, around 8:30 p.m., Harris was riding in the 2800 block of East 77th Street when an unknown driver struck her. She was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital, where she was pronounced.
According to police, another girl, 13, was also riding a scooter and was hit by the motorist and suffered lacerations. She self-transported to Jackson Park Hospital and was transferred to Comer Children's Hospital in fair condition for a CAT scan.
This afternoon, CPD News Affairs said no one was in custody.
The Illinois Traffic Crash Report, completed by responding officers, provides more information about what reportedly happened. It states that Harris' companion lives near the crash site, and indicates the two girls were on the same scooter with Harris riding behind her companion, who was operating the vehicle.
The rendering on the report indicates they were struck when they entered the street at Exchange, a northwest-southeast diagonal with Metra Electric tracks in the median. The drawing shows the driver heading southeast.
The narrative on the report states that the crash was recorded on a Police Observation Device camera. Footage reportedly showed the driver traveling southeast on Exchange when they struck the scooter on its right side and fled southeast. Harris suffered severe head and chest injuries.
Harris' mother has created a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses. "Violet went to Hyde Park Academy and attended honor classes," she wrote. "I am a single mother and would like to give my baby a proper burial. She deserves it. She filled the room with smiles when she walked in and brought so much joy to everyone she came in contact with. My children and I are extremely heartbroken."
Speaking for Harris's family, Chitown Crime Chasers violence interrupter Justin Peters told ABC7 Chicago, "Violet is the niece of one of my team members, and it's very devastating." He added, "It's hitting the whole family, all of us is hurting right now."
"This was a child who had her whole life left," Peters' coworker Cassandra Chatman said to ABC. "So I'm hoping the person that the person that did it will come forward or someone saw it will come forward."
Fatality Tracker: 2026 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 4
Bicycle or e-scooter: 2
2026 Chicago pedestrian fatalities
• On Wednesday, January 7, around 8:44 a.m., a 42-year-old woman driving an SUV fatally struck a man, 64, crossing at 9498 S. Lafayette Ave. in Roseland.
• On Monday, February 16, around 4:12 p.m., a 37-year-old female truck driver struck and killed a woman, 63, in the 7200 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Norwood Park.
• On Tuesday, March 3, 2026, around 6:15 PM, an SUV driver, 70, fatally struck a female pedestrian in the 4000 block of West Foster Avenue in the North Park neighborhood.
• On Wednesday, March 11, sometime before 10 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a woman, 32, in the 2100 block of East 83rd Street in South Chicago.
2026 Chicago bicycle and e-scooter fatalities
• On Thursday, January 29, around 8:20 p.m., the 33-year-old male driver of a Toyota struck and killed a male bike rider of unknown age in the 8600 block of West Irving Park Road next to Schiller Model Airplane Flying Field.
• On Saturday, March 21, around 8:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Violet Harris, 15, on an e-scooter in the 2800 block of E. 77th in South Shore.
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